


'we are not soldiers'

by whitchry9



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Analysis, Character Analysis, Character Study, Gen, Meta, scene based
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 02:19:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3552377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitchry9/pseuds/whitchry9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soldier no longer means the same thing it once meant, which neither Steve or Tony know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'we are not soldiers'

Soldier no longer means the same thing it once meant, which neither Steve or Tony know.

 

Tony does not know that being a soldier used to be something that was the best thing a man could be, and that Steve asking “is this the first time you've lost a soldier?” was not an insult.

 

Steve does not know what soldiers and war have come to mean, about protests against fighting and people dying for a cause they're not sure how to name anymore, and that Tony retorting “we are not soldiers” was the only defense he could muster.

 

Because Tony used to supply the weapons for those soldiers who went out and killed other people's children, and he didn't realize what that really meant until his own bomb exploded in his face and tore a hole in his chest and his life. Because three months in a cave taught Tony that war is not something beautiful or romantic, it's blood and death and endless suffering. It's children missing parents and parents missing children and fathers who have no families to go home to.

 

But Steve. Steve fought and lied his way into the army because he was so desperate to make a difference. Because that was what everyone did, no matter what. He didn't care that he was small and sick and could barely hold his own in a Brooklyn back alley, because he wanted to serve his country. But more than that, Steve wanted to serve what his country was supposed to stand for, freedom and justice and righteousness, even if that wasn't what war was about.

 

Steve came from an era where people who came home from the war were _heroes._ Tony came from an era where people who came home from the war were _damaged._

Steve came from an era where war unified people, brought an entire country together. Tony came from an era where war made people suspicious, sowing doubt and fear and terror.

Steve knows war only as something that heals, that makes things better, that is right. Tony knows war as something that can destroy so much in such a little time, and he has no way to explain that to Steve, who sacrificed himself.

 

Not to mention that Tony grew up on stories of Captain America, and once faced with the man himself, nothing could measure up to those stories. Because stories never capture a person entirely. They capture the best parts of them. Not the little things that make a person who they really are. Steve is a legend, he had history books written about him and documentaries and a goddamn exhibit at the museum, and Tony probably grew up worshipping this guy, but he is from a different age.

 

At his core, Steve is idealistic and maybe a little bit naive, no matter how much he's seen. Tony is at the opposite end of the spectrum, jaded and skeptical, because he's seen the depravity and depths that humanity can go to. He's experienced it himself, tasted it. He still has nightmares about it. Tony knows that when America goes to war, they're not always the good guys, no matter how much he'd love to believe that. And when Tony said “we are not soldiers” he was picturing a young man with a camera and a woman who laughed at his jokes, all moments before they were blown up in an effort to get to him. He will never forget that day. And he doesn't want to, because that means closing his eyes to the horrors that he's come to realize exist; the horrors that he enabled for so long.

But Steve is trying to hard to believe that even in this unfamiliar future that people and values are still the same. And that may be beautiful and heartbreaking, but it's also not going to work.

 

What they don't realize is that they're fighting for the same things, but calling them different names. Because times change and language changes too, and war isn't just war anymore, and soldiers aren't simply soldiers.

But maybe Tony's right. Maybe they are not soldiers. But that really depends on how they define the war that they're fighting.

 


End file.
